BIOGRAPHY

ELIJAH PRENTICE ROGERS - OF DARIEN AND PAVILION, NY

Batavia Daily News, April 1915
Elijah Prentice Rogers - Darien Man, Dead at 102. He came to this county one hundred years ago this spring. Connecticut native. Retained possession of
his faculties and was vigorous physically.

Corfu, April 10, 1915 - Elijah Prentice Rogers, over 102 years of age and the oldest person in Genesee county, died at 9 o'clock this morning at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Frank Carter of Darien, from the infirmities of age.

He was in good health up to three days ago. He retained a remarkable possession of all his faculties until the end, and until the last illness he
was as active as most people of 75.

Mr. Rogers was born Jan. 1813, in Lyme, Conn. His father moved his family to the town of Covington, now Pavilion, in the spring of 1815. Mr. Rogers was
the oldest of the ten children in the family.

In March 1839, Mr. Rogers married Miss Ann Beckwith of Bethany and they lived in that town until they moved to Darien in 1870. Mrs. Rogers died on Sept. 6, 1906. Mr. Rogers cast his first presidential vote for William Henry Harrison in 1836.

Mr. Rogers wrote the following letter, relating facts about his family and incidents of his life, in 1904: "My father, Elisha Rogers, moved from Lyme,
Conn. to Pavilion in the spring of 1815. I was then two years old, and one sister, Phoebe, was a baby three months old. It took six weeks to make the
trip with oxen.

"Father and mother lived on the farm where they settled until their death, father dying at the age of 88, and mother at 101 years. The farm is now
occupied by my brother Champion, who made a trip around the world two years ago. (In a sail ship).

"When I was a boy, there were more Indians who traveled by my father's house than white men. I sometimes went hunting with them, as they were friendly.
They used the bow and arrow, with which they were good marksmen. If an arrow lodged in a tree-top, they would dislodge it by shooting at it with another
arrow. I have heard my mother tell of an Indian stopping at the house once when she was alone with the children. He had a knife and tomahawk in his
belt, and showed her an ear-ring, making signs that he wanted to put it into her ear. Mother was greatly alarmed, but did not dare refuse him. He placed
the ring in her ear then, looking at her, seemed pleased, and left.

"In the early days, Batavia was the nearest market. Having no conveyance, mother would go to Batavia on horseback. At one time she filled the
saddlebags with eggs, packed in tow, took them to Batavia and exchanged for groceries. She did her baking mostly in an oven which she built herself
outdoors from stone which we children gathered for her, with mud for mortar. I remember well seeing her bake in this oven, and victuals tasted good, etter
than they do now, especially the Indian bread warm from the oven.

"Along in the thirties, my cousin, Eli Rogers, and myself used to go fox-hunting in the eastern part of Pavilion. The foxes were very plenty then, and we usually got one to three. A man by the name of Snow and another, Simon Law, lived in that vicinity. I am now 91 years old, and have given up fox-hunting, but occasionally get the old rifle out to shoot squirrels which come to our corncrib.

Besides his daughter, Mrs. Carter, Mr. Rogers is survived by a brother, Champion Rogers of Pavilion; a sister, Mrs. Fanny Patterson of Ohio; four
grandchildren, Mrs. D. C. Young, Miss Marion Rogers, George Rogers and Jay Rogers of Darien; and three great-grandchildren. The funeral will be held
from Mrs. Carter's home at 2 p.m. on Tuesday. The Rev. Harry M. Wright of Lockport, former pastor of the Batavia and Corfu Universalist churches,
officiating. The burial will be in Darien Center.

Additional Comments:
Obituary dated December 19, 1923